WMCFW Adrian Wu Spring 2013

Adrian Wu Spring 2013

Never one to unimpress, Adrian Wu presented yet another truly avant-garde collection that was both elegant and shocking. Aptly named, the “Dystopia” collection was in tune with Wu’s aesthetic yet drastically differed in execution.

Inspired by the early years of the Cold War, Wu married ideas like atomic bombs and retro housewives to form a binary between the beautiful and obscene. “What if nuclear war actually happened in the 1950s?”

The pieces, made solely from polyurethane, “a foam like material that is sprayed, moulded, hardened and painted,” maintained Wu’s signature silhouettes yet with a texturized distortion. Models ambled down the red runway, under a disco ball, to classics like “I Wanna Be Loved By You” and “Moon River.”

Each song was beautifully presented by pianist Patrick Dilkie and singer Caitlin Comeau-Jarvis of Toronto; certainly in accordance with Wu’s notion that “fashion is a performance.”

As for wearability? Wu notes the pieces may be worn but better suit the purpose of haute couture art.